title: Power scalable >25 W supercontinuum laser from 2 to 2.5 μm with near-diffraction-limited beam and low output variability.
abstract: A power scalable thulium-doped fiber-amplifier-based supercontinuum (SC) laser covering the shortwave infrared region from 2 to 2.5 μm is demonstrated. The SC laser has an average power up to 25.7 W and a spectral density of >12 dBm/nm. Power scalability of the laser is proven by showing that the SC laser maintains a nearly constant spectral output, beam quality (M(2) measurements), and output spectral stability as the SC average power is scaled from 5 to 25.7 W average output power. We verify that the SC laser beam is nearly diffraction limited with an M(2)<1.2 for all power levels. Output spectral stability measurements with power scaling show a radiometric variability of <0.8% across the entire SC spectrum.
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. vinalex@umich.edu
authors.forename: Vinay V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Zhennan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Mohammed N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.forename: Agustin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ifarraguerri
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meola
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Absi
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zadnik
authors.forename: Anthony S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Szalkowski
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Boer